Baby Fern Rib Socks pattern released today!

I’m so excited to announce that I’ve finally released the Baby Fern Rib Socks pattern today! I’ve done quite a bit of tinkering with it since my first draft. First, I had two knitting friends test-knit for me (thanks again Bridget and Sandie!), then, after incorporating their comments, I decided to write a second version of the pattern for magic loop knitting 2-at-a-time on one long circular needle. And then, after hearing how at least one of my knitting buddies (coughKriscough) hates short-row heels with wrapped stitches, I wrote a second heel option into the pattern that uses a different method to close up the gaps that doesn’t require wrapping or picking up wraps.

I’m currently knitting my sock-length pair 2-at-a-time on magic loop, and will post additional photos when those are done. So for now, you’ll just have to look at the anklet version again.

The two versions of the pattern are available as PDF downloads through Ravelry. You don’t have to be a Ravelry member to purchase, but Ravelry members also have the option to save the PDF in their Ravelry library. (If you’re a knitter, crocheter, spinner or yarnie and haven’t signed up for Ravelry yet, what the heck are you waiting for?! Go. Now. Sign up!)

Ravelry Links:
Baby Fern Rib Socks (DPN version) pattern page

Baby Fern Rib Socks (magic loop 2-at-a-time version) pattern page

Price:
$5.00 (U.S. currency)

Description:
This toe-up sock with a short-row heel features columns of baby fern stitch separated by columns of ribbing. The stretchy stitch motif combined with a stretchy yarn makes for a pretty stretchy sock. For anklets in U.S. Ladies size 8.5 or smaller, only 1 ball of Patons stretch socks is needed (assuming you unravel any gauge swatch and re-use it for the finished socks). For anklets larger than U.S. Ladies size 8.5, or for longer socks, you’ll need 2 balls of Patons stretch socks. (Or substitute the same yardage of another stretchy fingering-weight yarn.) Pattern includes two different short-row heels — one with wraps and one without.

Please feel free to contact me at lynnioknits [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or comments about this or any of my other patterns.

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Helical Stripe Baby Hat Revisited

Just a quickie post today — I tweaked the Helical Stripe Baby Hat pattern just slightly, and uploaded a revised PDF file.

Lemme guess… you can’t tell the difference between this one and the previous one, can you? That’s the beauty of helical stripes. The only change was instead of dividing up the hat into 5 equal sections (since I have 5 colors, including white), I divided it into 4 equal sections so that I’m not knitting one color with more stitches on each round (kind of hard to explain — trust me, it’s better this way, although the first one wasn’t “wrong” the way it was).

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What’s been keeping me from knitting

OK, it seems like it’s been forever, but it’s actually only been since about Labor Day that my knitting time has been cut back severely. So, what’s been keeping me from knitting as much? Well, first of all, I haven’t been taking my knitting along to work lately (lunchtime knitting) because things have been too busy at the office — and I’d rather leave the office at a decent time and skip the knitting over lunch so I can get a little more work done instead. Second of all, there’s that weaving project I’d been procrastinating about for several weeks (or maybe more like since early July).

(click any of the photos to see it larger)

The weaving is finally done! What we have here is a set of four placemats, handwoven from the same bamboo yarn (Silk City Bambu 12 for warp and tabby weft and Silk City Bambu 7 Variegated for pattern weft) that I used for my nephew Billy’s baby blanket. These will be one of the raffle prizes at “Cruise for a Cure” this weekend — a sort of car show (no awards, though) that my Dad’s garage is hosting as a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society through our church’s Relay for Life team. I like how the placemats turned out — I miscalculated a bit on the length, however. I knew the approximate shrinkage from making the baby blanket; unfortunately, I had this feeling I miscalculated and wasn’t going to have enough warp after starting the weaving (turns out I had plenty), so I made the placemats each 2 inches shorter than I had planned… and also unfortunately, the weaving naturally shrinks more warp-wise (lengthwise) than it does in width. So after washing, they ended up more square than rectangular. But still usable. I’ll just have to file that little tidbit of information away in my brain in case I need it in the future.

Anyway, what little knitting news there is… I’ve started another Helical Stripe Baby Hat. After a little show-and-tell at Yarns R Us last weekend, the first one I made ended up being a shop sample in return for replacement yarn to make more for the hospital. And I’ll be teaching a class on how to make it later in the fall! The date has also been set for my Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Magic Loop sock class at Yarns R Us — Saturday, October 18 (9 a.m. – 1 p.m., I think). I’m really looking forward to it. I’m tweaking the baby sock pattern just for the class, so it will hopefully knit up a little faster.

I haven’t touched the Monkeys (sounds like a Saturday Night Live skit…) for several weeks now. I think they will probably need to hibernate until October so I can get some other stuff done. First off, I need to get the Baby Fern – Rib Socks pattern finalized and uploaded to Ravelry. And after that I need to get started on some Christmas knitting… oh, and a little more weaving, too.

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Charity FO: Helical Stripe Baby Hat

Earlier this summer, Grumperina featured a pair of helical stripe socks on her blog. I was really intrigued by the concept and sort of filed it away in my brain for a while. Fast-forward to this past Friday, when I picked up several pastel shades of Italian cotton yarn (Filatura di Crosa’s Porto Cervo) that was on clearance at Yarns R Us, figuring I would make some more baby hats for the hospital.

(click the photo to see it larger)

I actually hadn’t thought of doing the helical stripes at first, but then the lightbulb went off. I had five colors total: pink, yellow, green, blue, and good ol’ white (1 ball of each, except for the white — two balls of that). I started at the top with a length of i-cord to be tacked down into a little loop later, then increased like crazy. I didn’t like how it turned out at first — I kept using the white till I was finished with the increases, but it was too much. I wanted to start the stripes much sooner. So I started over, again with the i-cord. Then I started adding the other colors as soon as I had a stitch count divisible by 5 (15 stitches). Increased a whole bunch more while working the helical stripes, until I had a hair more than 80 stitches on the needle. Then I just worked even in the helical stripes to the length I wanted, and switched to all white for the rolled edge. Voila!

• Needle: US 5 Addi Turbo, 40″ (magic loop technique used)
• Yarn: Filatura di Crosa Porto Cervo (100% cotton, aran weight), 10 grams each pink, yellow, green, blue and 20 grams white
• Started: 8/30/08 (and ripped and re-started 8/31/08)
• Finished: 9/1/08
• Gauge: Approx. 5-5.5 stitches per inch, stockinette
• Construction: Top-down, stockinette, rolled edge

I quickly wrote up some simple instructions — please note, however, that these instructions are extremely basic and have not been thoroughly proofread/tested. (It’s not rocket science and if you make a mistake while knitting this, it most likely isn’t going to be a serious one — plus it’s a quick knit and doesn’t take a lot of yarn. You can even use scraps!) Click to download PDF instructions.

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